Food-stamp cuts likely to dominate farm-bill talks

Wednesday

Oct 30, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 30, 2013 at 11:00 AM

WASHINGTON - Negotiators in the Senate and House will convene today to begin resolving differences in a long-delayed farm bill. The 41-member panel must bridge a huge divide in the five-year, $500 billion reauthorization bill's most-contentious issue: cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly called food stamps.

WASHINGTON — Negotiators in the Senate and House will convene today to begin resolving differences in a long-delayed farm bill.

The Republican-controlled House passed a bill that would cut food stamps by $39 billion out of a projected $800 billion over 10 years. In addition, the House SNAP provision would require able-bodied adults without children to work or volunteer for 20 hours a week to receive federal assistance.

The Democratic-held Senate’s farm bill also would cut food stamps, but by $4.5 billion over a decade. The Senate plan wouldn’t add work requirements.

“I hope they can find a way to thread the needle,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., one of the conferees. “I hope we can figure it out, because there’s too much riding on passing the farm bill to allow the nutrition title to derail it.”

The differences over food stamps could jeopardize a bill that sets farm policy and covers conservation, insurance and farm-subsidy programs. In addition to the food-stamp controversy, there are lesser disputes over a measure in the Senate bill that would lower crop-insurance subsidies to some farmers.

If the conference committee fails to produce something for the House and Senate to vote on by the end of the year, consumers might feel the impact. Dairy supports are set to expire, meaning the cost of milk could jump significantly if a new farm bill isn’t in place.

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